Retired Admiral James Lyons (USN) recently posted his thoughts on Taiwan in the Washington Times. He expressed a much fairer understanding of Taiwan's position vis a vis the United States than the Cold Warriors who educated him have in the past. For nearly forty years after World War II the Chinese derisively and the Americans delightedly referred to Taiwan as America's "Unsinkable Battleship." Lyons shows himself to be a far more enlightened man and calls the island America's "Strategic Aircraft Carrier in Reserve."
Hmmmmmmmmm.
What is wrong this picture? We decry the notion of communists dominating Taiwan because it would destroy Taiwanese democracy but by implying that the United States is the occupying power of Taiwan he is admitting that the Taiwanese, who can't vote in American elections, are not living in a real democracy at all. To be fair the Admiral seems to have no interest in democracy and talks about Taiwan in a stricly military/geographic context. He is right in saying that Taiwan's accession to the PRC would give China de facto control over the South China Sea but aren't we, as a country, beginning to acknowledge that we should at least pretend to care about the citizens of such small countries? Taiwan is not simply a bishop in our game of chess with the Chinese.
My last entry was criticizing Jian Junbo's article about the House of Representatives attempting to manipulate Taiwanese politics and with articles like this floating around I can understand his confusion.
Actually, there is a legal argument for the U.S. being the sovereign power of Taiwan. Let's go through the chain again.
ReplyDeleteAboriginal, China, Dutch, China, Japan, US military government of Japan, and, as far as international law goes, nothing has changed to this day.
This isn't my thought, see David Kopel's recent post at www.volokh.com, and the article he references in the Harvard Asia Quarterly.
So are you saying that we should recognize Taiwan as a sovereign democracy and severely limit our military presence there, thereby endangering its chance to be a democracy at all?
ReplyDeleteOr are you simply saying that we're hypocritical for helping Taiwan throw off the yoke of one master just to become our servant?
Louis, that argument has been making a lot of press recently! Probably will be my next blog post.
ReplyDeleteTim, firstly there isn't an American military presence in Taiwan. The American military left "Free China" decades ago. In fact, members of the American military are not even permitted to be uniformed in the presence of Taiwanese gov't officials. This is an important part of Taiwan's international appeal. If US troops were here it would give credence to the "Taiwan as an American Colony" line of thought that so enrages conservatives on the mainland.
One of my favorite exchanges between McCain and Obama last year was discussing drone strikes in Pakistan. When asked if he would support attacks inside Pakistan without Pakistani permission Obama said that he would. McCain started chuckling a bit and Obama noted that McCain would likely do the same thing. The senior senator responded "Maybe, but I wouldn't say it on TV." Now, I don't mean to comment politically but in announcing that he had no respect for Pakistani sovereignty Obama caused a minor loss of face for our "ally." The same can be said of Taiwan, to an extent. If it is our "aircraft carrier in reserve" let's not call it that publicly. That only inflames mainland sentiment and lets the Taiwanese believe that they will always be someone's slaves.
However, it is my opinion that Taiwan's best defense against China is its very existence as a Chinese democracy. It's independence lets the entire developed world look on it with a sense of recognition and shows the unrepresented people of the mainland know that they to can control their own politics.
Note: Patriot missile batteries, F-16's, proximity to Japan, short range missiles, and ambiguous suggestions of American intervention are Taiwan's second best defenses.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Thanks for clearing that up.
ReplyDeleteIf there isn't an American military presence in Taiwan, what is the scope of our military aid to the island outside of weapon sales?
Good question! According to the State Dept. (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/101439.pdf) Taiwan receives less than one million dollars per year and none of it for military purposes. Apparently some of it goes to "Demining" activities although I believe the mines that they're decommissioning mines which were placed by previous Taiwanese governments.
ReplyDelete